Tajikistan, 1998

First allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on your

election to the crucial post of President of the General

Assembly and to wish you success in guiding the work of

this important forum.

The example of Tajikistan clearly demonstrates the

fruitfulness of close cooperation between the United

Nations and regional organizations in peacekeeping

activities and highlights the need for the international

community to implement a coordinated strategy to support

the efforts of the Government and people of a country to

resolve crises, overcome instability and find ways to

achieve lasting peace, national reconciliation and

prosperity. We welcome the key role played by the

United Nations in coordinating this multifaceted work.

I would like once again to express my profound

gratitude to all Members of the General Assembly and the

Security Council and to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi

Annan, for their growing and multifaceted support for the

peace process in Tajikistan and for their overall

unflagging attention to our problems, which, regrettably,

remain acute.

We commend the efforts of all States and

international organizations that are acting as guarantors of

the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and

National Accord in Tajikistan signed on 27 June last year

in Moscow and reached with the assistance of the United

Nations. During the almost five years they were stationed

on the territory of Tajikistan, the collective peacekeeping

forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States, by

their presence and practical actions, helped stabilize the

situation in our country and helped us continue to pursue

the complex inter-Tajik political dialogue. This has led to

the implementation of the historic agreements that

resulted from these talks.

We express our deep appreciation to all our friends

— countries and international organizations, and in

particular United Nations agencies — that empathize with

the people of Tajikistan in their hardships and are trying

to help them overcome them as soon as possible.

While paying due tribute to the United Nations for

its contribution to the strengthening of peace and national

reconciliation in Tajikistan, we are fully aware that the

primary responsibility for restoring peaceful life in our

country and for the future of our motherland lies with the

leadership of the Republic of Tajikistan and with the

Tajik opposition.

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We believe that the peace process in Tajikistan,

though arduous, is becoming more established and is

moving towards national accord. This is born out by the

fact that the work of the Commission on National

Reconciliation has definitely entered a constructive phase.

The majority of refugees and displaced persons have

returned home. The process of reintegrating the United

Tajik Opposition armed formations into the Government

military structures has begun. The majority of the

participants in the military and political resistance

movement have been granted amnesty and released from

prison. All prisoners of war have been released. Virtually

all the leaders of the Opposition forces have returned to the

country and are living and working in Dushanbe.

Representatives of the Opposition have been appointed to

a number of important Government posts. A process is

under way to bring the nation’s laws up to date with the

new needs of political life in Tajikistan. A number of other

serious measures have also been implemented.

Guided by the vital aspirations of the people and

recognizing that there is no viable alternative to full and

timely implementation of the Tajikistan General Agreement,

the country’s leadership is determined to continue to do all

it can to ensure speedy implementation of all the provisions

of the General Agreement.

We are grateful for the empathy for our problems

shown by the former Special Representative of the

Secretary-General for Tajikistan, Mr. Gerd Dietrich

Merrem, who completed his work in May this year. We are

prepared to build on this positive experience of cooperation

in our relations with his successor, Mr. Jan Kubisz.

Tajikistan has great respect for the United Nations

Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) and for all its

staff. These brave and noble people are serving a lofty goal

under difficult conditions and are making a valuable

contribution to the attainment of national accord and the

establishment of peace and tranquillity in our country.

The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan

reaffirms its desire to continue to closely cooperate with the

United Nations in implementing the peace accords and in

the post-conflict reconstruction of the country. We have

taken decisive action to prevent excesses similar to the

tragic death this past July of four UNMOT officers, and to

provide better security for all personnel of international

organizations present in Tajikistan.

While in no way diminishing the United Nations

obvious achievements in organizing collective international

responses to crisis situations in various regions of the

world, we feel obliged to draw attention once again to the

dangerous, protracted Afghan conflict, which remains

unresolved. We have particular reason for highlighting

this problem — above all because we feel profound

sympathy for the continuing sufferings of the fraternal

people of Afghanistan. Moreover, we, together with our

nearest neighbours and Russia, are very seriously

concerned about the dangers posed by the situation in

Afghanistan, which threatens to destabilize the entire

Central Asian region; to lead to a massive and

spontaneous exodus of Afghan refugees across the border

into Tajikistan; and to spread terrorism, arms and drugs.

We are especially alarmed about the threat of the

proliferation of religious extremism, and are joining

forces with Russia and Uzbekistan to counter it. Since the

inter-Tajik reconciliation process has not been completed,

all these factors are impacting very negatively on the

situation in our country.

As the history of Afghanistan shows, the use of

force by any internal or external actors not only is

incapable of solving the problems of Afghan society, but

is fraught with the danger of a new escalation of civil war

in that country. In this context, we cannot but feel

alarmed at developments in Afghanistan, in particular the

open disregard for the efforts of the international

community to find a political solution to the conflict and

for the Afghan people’s desire to preserve the integrity of

their State.

We, together with the other members of the Almaty

Five, are closely following developments in the Islamic

State of Afghanistan. Tajikistan fully supports the United

Nations playing a central role in coordinating all

international efforts to find an Afghan settlement. As a

member of the group of neighbours and friends of

Afghanistan, the Six plus Two group, we are firm in our

opposition to any external interference in the affairs of

Afghanistan, including interference in the form of sending

military personnel and arms to that country.

The Republic of Tajikistan notes the important role

played by the United Nations in disarmament and in a

whole range of problems related to strengthening non-

proliferation regimes with regard to weapons of mass

destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. In this context,

we are joining the initiative of our neighbours to create a

nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia. We believe the

establishment of such a nuclear-free zone requires, first

and foremost, action on the part of prospective parties to

that treaty. We need to consider such questions as the

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definitive geographical configuration of this zone; the

substance and range of guarantees granted to the parties by

the nuclear Powers; how to deal with any transporting of

nuclear weapons through such a zone; verification

measures; and other matters.

Our position on the establishment of a nuclear-

weapon-free zone in Central Asia cannot overlook the fact

that India and Pakistan have conducted nuclear tests. We

fully support the urgent appeal of the Security Council to

India and Pakistan to accede to the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We believe that

both these countries — along with the overwhelming

majority of members of the international community —

must choose the path of preventing the proliferation of

nuclear weapons.

The evolution of the world economy today is

characterized by increasing globalization and liberalization.

This is reflected in the growing interdependence and greater

openness of national economies and of commodity and

financial markets — a development that is beginning to

have both positive and negative impacts.

We share the view that, in addition to national efforts

to increase their economic and social potential, developing

countries and those in transition need the consolidated

support of the international community, including that of

the United Nations and other multilateral institutions.

Above all, we have in mind two things: first, the

creation of favourable international conditions so as to

provide open access to markets, as well as to financial

resources and modern technology; secondly, assistance in

overcoming poverty, protecting the environment,

implementing economic reforms and enhancing the

competitiveness of national enterprises. Unless we resolve

these problems, it will be impossible to fully integrate

countries in transition into the world economy.

For Tajikistan those matters are all the more relevant

given that our country has many outstanding problems

caused by the prolonged period of military confrontation, as

well as challenges directly related to its peaceful settlement.

They include the humanitarian needs of rather large and

vulnerable segments of the country’s population — needs

for food, medicine and health care. Vital infrastructure, in

particular for water supply and sanitation, needs to be

rehabilitated. And, finally, assistance is needed to help

refugees and displaced persons return home, and to

demobilize and reintegrate the Tajik Opposition fighters

into civilian life.

The leadership of Tajikistan is doing all it can to

deal with the country’s humanitarian crisis caused by the

internal conflict, to rebuild the basic elements of the

national economy and to make progress in transforming

it into a socially oriented market economy. However,

these efforts will be insufficient without the assistance of

many countries and international organizations, including

the humanitarian agencies of the United Nations system

and the charitable funds. In this regard, we note in

particular the work of the United Nations Resident

Coordinator in Tajikistan, who is responsible for

coordinating international aid to Tajikistan for its post-

conflict reconstruction and further sustainable

development.

We hope that at this fifty-third session there will be

broad support for a resolution that fully reflects

Tajikistan’s needs at this difficult stage in its

development, including the tasks related to

implementation of the General Agreement on the

Establishment of Peace and National Accord in our

country.

We have gratefully acknowledged the consolidated

appeal drawn up by United Nations agencies to meet the

humanitarian needs of the Tajik people for 1998. This

appeal clearly defined the priorities and set the minimum

amount of external aid required. We would be grateful to

donors if, reflecting the spirit of support for the peace

process in Tajikistan expressed at the Vienna meeting of

donors in October last year and at the Paris conference

held in May this year, they would meet the goals of this

appeal.

We attach great importance to continuing our

cooperation with institutions such as the World Bank and

the International Monetary Fund, which are seeking to

provide assistance during the post-conflict reconstruction

and development of the Tajik economy. We hope that in

the near future this cooperation will further expand.

Tajikistan consistently supports various United

Nations efforts to protect the environment. As a

predominantly mountainous country, Tajikistan sees

particular relevance in increasing the attention paid by the

international community to the preservation of biological

diversity and natural mountain ecosystems. In this

connection, we actively supported the proposal of the

Kyrgyz Republic to declare the year 2000 the

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International Year of the Mountain. We were one of the co-

sponsors of the relevant draft resolution, which we hope

will be adopted by consensus at this session.

We are inspired and encouraged by the growing

interest of the United Nations in helping to solve the

environmental problems faced by our country and other

countries of Central Asia. In our view, one of the most

serious ecological challenges posed not only to Tajikistan

but to almost all the countries of the region is to eliminate

the potential threat of the major natural disasters that could

occur if no effective action is taken to normalize the

situation in the area of Lake Sarez, which lies 3,263 metres

above sea level and contains 17 billion tonnes of water.

This poses a grave danger not only for the people of

Tajikistan but also for neighbouring Uzbekistan,

Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, which could sustain serious

damage in the event of a breakage of the natural dam that

was formed at the beginning of this century as a result of

an earthquake. We count on our renewed cooperation with

the United Nations for help in dealing with this problem in

a comprehensive manner.

Among the many problems on the United Nations

agenda, we would like to stress the issue of combating the

drug menace, whose deleterious impact, unfortunately, has

not bypassed our country. We fully support the coordinating

role of the United Nations in the mobilization of the

international community’s efforts in this area. We note the

usefulness and timeliness of the convening in June this year

of the special session of the General Assembly devoted to

this issue.

Tajikistan, together with its closest neighbours, is

taking active steps to halt illicit drug trafficking. It is

broadening its cooperation with the United Nations

International Drug Control Programme. As is well known

to those who have observed the situation in one of our

neighbouring countries, “narcodollars” create fertile soil for

terrorism and illicit drugs and arms trafficking. We view

terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as a grave

crime against humanity. The Government of the Republic

of Tajikistan vigorously condemns the acts of violence that

have been committed recently in certain countries. We call

upon the United Nations and its Members to declare

merciless and uncompromising war on terrorism all over

the world.

Tajikistan supports the steps being taken by the

Secretary-General to reform the entire United Nations

system to enable it to serve better in a new environment,

and to deal with different issues without undermining the

foundation of its activities. This point must be taken into

account when dealing with expansion of the membership

of the Security Council, so that this important body can

continue effectively and expeditiously to discharge its

primary responsibility under the United Nations Charter:

the maintenance of international peace and security.

We are confident that the joint efforts of Members

to reform the Organization will lead to a renewal which

will preserve its universal character and its ability to

adequately meet current and future challenges.